Main menu

Further Workplace Health and Safety bosses will be grilled at the inquest into the Dreamworld disaster today, after a leading inspector admitted he had "no confidence" in the emergency procedures in place on the Thunder River Rapids ride.

SA govt an obese, smelly man: Leyonhjelm

If the South Australian government was a person, it would be an obese 40-year-old man with awful body odour who lives with his mother.

He refuses to work and plays Xbox all day, pausing only to demand more Cheezels.

That's the claim of Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm, who launched a scathing attack against all SA politicians on Wednesday, especially fellow cross bencher Nick Xenophon.

The state needs an intervention, he says, pointing to its demands for more water under the Murray-Darling Basin plan and its power generation policies.

"Sadly, the lone positive influence that South Australian politicians are having on Australia right now is to make politicians from other states feel better about themselves," Senator Leyonhjelm told parliament.

"There seems to be a sizeable voting bloc of whingeing Wendys and doctor's wives who like to be represented either by doe-eyed Greens who have never grown up, or shameless populists and protectionists."

In a direct attack on Senator Xenophon, the NSW senator said those who "fly economy and wear cheap suits" were costing Australia billions and were "every bit as dodgy with other people's money as the shonkiest crony capitalist".

"We should respond less to all of their bleatings - their bleatings for money, for water, for power, and for anything else, until such time as they can demonstrate they can behave like responsible adults in the federation."